Although 87 percent of practitioner say that they do not offer any on-site child care, the vast majority, 90 percent, do not have a written policy about bringing children into the office.
In fact, more than 62 percent of respondents said that they have on occasion or in an emergency brought their own child or children into the office. Five percent say they do so frequently (and five percent of respondents said that they have on-site child care.
Staff members, too, have occasionally brought their children in, with 33 percent of the respondents saying that staff do so occasionally and 39 percent saying staff members have done so in an emergency. Sixteen percent of respondents said that bringing children into the office is strongly discouraged.
Nearly 7 percent of the respondents said that they personally have called out of work because of a sick child or one who has no other caretaker, and 28 percent said that’s one of the most common reasons for employee absenteeism. Forty-three percent of respondents said that it happens only occasionally that sick or stranded children result in employee absenteeism, and 26 percent said that happens only infrequently.
Those who do have a policy said it covers the following:
No children, no where, no how.: 49%
Policy applies to healthy children only: 22%
Policy allows for sick children: 22%
Policy applies to school-aged children: 10%
Policy applies to preschoolers and younger: 2%
Female ODs accounted for 73 percent of poll respondents, and 51 percent of the respondents said that they are a parent or guardian of a younger child, while 31 percent said that they are the parent or guardian of an older child.
